How To Enjoy Summer On a Frugal Budget (Guest-Post)

In this guest-post there are a number of ideas for keeping both parents and children happy over the Summer, using a small budget.

Cheap and cheerful Summer activities

This post gives a couple of suggestions for great garden based things to do this summer. The first is tailored around the kids, and the second around the parents! The ‘outdoors’ section of the Original Factory Shop’s website has all the items mentioned here for great prices.

Kids garden party

Kids love nothing more than a water fight in the summer, and a paddling pool makes a great base for such festivities. Such pools are cheaper than ever to pick up, and they can be deflated and stored through the autumn winter making them a good investment for future summers.

Sourced from The Original Factory Shop’s website

For the best water fights, follow these tips:

ensure the kids are in clothes that you don’t mind getting wet!

have water bombs available as well as water pistols (variety is the spice of life!)

station a parent on the sidelines with a hose pipe so they can even up the odds if necessary

Cocktail night

This one’s better for the adults, but the cocktails mentioned below are alcohol free, so the kids may enjoy it too! Having a few friends over for conversation and cocktails around a fire is a great way to spend an evening, and with long-lasting fire pits available for £25, it’s not too expensive to get set up.

As the cocktails are alcohol free, you can perhaps ask guests for a small contribution to the fire pit, coals, and firelighters instead of the usual B.Y.O.B. expenditure. This reduces the cost of the evening to just a few pounds each!

Here are a couple of good virgin cocktail recipes:

Daiquiri (ingredients per drink):

2 tsp. lime juice

30g frozen strawberries

1 tsp. sugar

Blend

Pina Colada (ingredients per drink):

1 cup coconut cream

1 cup ice

2 tsp. sugar

Blend

Of course you can liven up the virgin daiquiris and pina coladas with some white rum if you prefer!